u, or pawnbroker's. This
species of anarchy continues till midnight; then, calm resumes its sway.
No one, after the twelfth hour has struck, can claim a debt, or even make
the slightest allusion to it. You now only hear the words of peace and
good-will; everybody fraternizes with everybody. Those who were just
before on the point of twisting their neighbour's neck, now twine their
friendly arms about it.

The new year is celebrated in much the same way as in Europe. Everybody
dresses as fine as he possibly can; formal and informal visits are
exchanged; presents circulate; dinners and parties are given; people go
to see the play, the jugglers, and so on. Fireworks startle you at every
turn; there is nothing going on but merry-making. After a few days, the
shops are once more opened, and business imperceptibly resumes its
course; at least with those who can carry it on: those who can't, declare
themselves bankrupt, or, as the Chinese phrase it, leave the door open.

The Hoei-Hoei do not keep the new year at the same time with the Chinese,
for in their special calendar they observe the Hegira of Mahomet. Owing
to this circumstance, we passed these days of disorder and tumult in the
greatest tranquillity. The epoch assigned for the recovery of debts was,
in the place where we lodged, indicated merely by a few disputes,
followed immediately by profound quiet. The House of Repose was not even
disturbed by fire-works. We availed ourselves of this tranquillity, and
of the absence of Sandara, to go thoroughly over our Thibetian lessons.
The two dialogues we possessed were analysed, decomposed, subjected to
the intellectual alembic, in every way and in every detail. Housekeeping
cares occupied, indeed, a portion of our day time; but we made up for
this by borrowing a few hours from the night, an arrangement which did
not at all suit our host, who, finding that it involved him in an extra
outlay for light, not only cut off our supplies, by removing the oil
bottle, but, like the regular Turk he was, put on a charge per diem for
light. As we did not choose to be condemned to darkness in this way, we
bought a packet of candles, and constructed, with a long nail and the
half of a carrot, a candlestick, not remarkable, indeed, for elegance or
costliness, but which perfectly fulfilled its office. When the Turk's
dole of oil was consumed, we lighted our candle, and we were thus able to
give free course to the ardour of our T